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Earthbound Farm Relies On Adept ClamPAC(TM) To Case Pack Clamshells

PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct. 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the country's largest grower, packer and shipper of organic produce, Earthbound Farm is recognized as an innovative industry leader. In April 2012, they installed four Adept ClamPAC™ robotic systems from Adept Technology (Nasdaq:ADEP) to case pack clamshells. This new technology gave them the dexterity and throughput they needed to automate what had been a manual operation. It also allowed them to design a new, more environmentally friendly clamshell that requires very gentle handling. Earthbound has been so satisfied with their first four ClamPAC systems, they purchased four more.

"We explored several suppliers offering robotic systems. Adept was the only one we found that had a product that could withstand our rigorous sanitation routine," said Joe Torquato, Director of Engineering at Earthbound Farm. "Our new robotic packaging systems improve the consistency of our throughput, which helps position us for continued growth. The technology is gentle and accurate; it reduces product damage and enhances the presentation of our clamshells in the case. It helps improve our work environment by eliminating a highly repetitive task. The labor cost savings gives us the ability to make this change that has widespread benefits."

ClamPAC is the first fully integrated robotic solution in the world to be pre-engineered to case pack clamshells. Adept's packaging solutions group makes customer-specific modifications to the standardized modular system before delivery. This approach is designed to reduce the customer's total cost of ownership by minimizing integration complexity and deployment time while providing the flexibility, dexterity and speed of a world-class robotic solution.

"Food processors like to find a single source supplier that handles the entire process," noted Torquato. "Adept took on that accountability. They handled everything including our empty boxes. They learned all our SKUs and became very intimate with our process. They set the systems up to handle our clamshells and each case packing configuration. They integrated their systems with our plant control network so we can control the operation remotely and gather data for reporting purposes. The integration went very smoothly."